Surfin' USA

[Andrew]

The sophomore album, and probably the most surfin' album the band ever did. Your views here, please.

Album archive entry is at
http://www.surfermoon.com/albums/surfin_usa2.shtml

[Lee Marshall]

A 7.  A giant leap forward from lp 1 to this their 2nd.  The entirety of it was pretty blinkin' awesome.  It sat at or near the top of the charts [album] for quite a period.  In retrospect...TOO MANY instrumentals.

[Conspiracy Jim]

As Lee says- too many instrumentals.  But the live version of Let's Go Trippin' makes me freak out with joy for months on end. 

The title track is the best thing here, though Finder's Keepers is kinda fun.  Not a fan of Farmer's Daughter.

[Moon Dawg]

   Too many instrumentals? Common sense says "yes", but when you play this LP, they don't diminish one's listening pleasure, IMO. "Surf Jam" would be my least favorite of the five.

  This was a biggie for The Beach Boys, basically establishing the folklore of the band on record. (SURFIN' SAFARI really isn't a surf LP, despite its title.) And SURFIN' USA went a long way toward cementing The Beach Boys as a potent commercial force - as Lee mentions it was on the charts for a long time.

  I'll give it a '9'.   

[Wrightfan]

8. A very good album:

Surfin' USA: What more can you say? This is the surfing song among all surfing songs. 9.5 out 10.

Farmer's Daughter: Nice song with a simple backing track. 7 out of 10.

Misirlou: Nice cover of Dick Dale's classic. Not as good as the original but whose is? 6 out of 10.

Stoked: Nice instrumental probally written by Carl. 6.5 out of 10.

Lonely Sea: One of the most underrated ballads of all time. Hauntingly beautiful. 8.5 out of 10.

Shut Down: Another car classic. 8.5 out of 10.

Noble Surfer: The weak link on this album. 5 out of 10.

Honky Tonk: Another great instrumental cover. 6.5 out of 10.

Lana: A decent love song. Kind of bland. 5 out of 10.

Surf Jam: Instrumental featuring Dennis on drums. Weakest instrumental on the album. 6 out of 10.

Let's Go Trippin: Another Dale cover. One of the best covers on the album. 7 out of 10.

Finders Keepers: Decent song but it should'nt have ended the album. 6 out of 10.

[Vega-Table]

Rating: 5

A companion piece to their debut, Surfin' Safari.  Guitar band goodness.  Improving on the performances and sound, Brian learning quickly.  The most "surf" their early albums (intrumentals being an essential component of that genre).  They'd never make an album quite like this ever again. 

[textus]

For a rock album in 1962-63, this one is very good. The instrumentals aren't on a par with *The Wham of That Memphis Man,* but when you match them with several top-rank vocal cuts, this merits its chart position, which was as the biggest youth-market album of 1963. It is possible that Elvis outsold it slightly, but I don't think any of his soundtracks of this period had the impact of this one.

[Moon Dawg]

 Right, it is important to view SURFIN' USA within the context of its time without engaging in presentism. ("oh gee, it only lasts 26 minutes", "5 instrumentals! what were they thinking", etc)

  Beyond that, this rock and roll album (you can't say that about every BB's LP, can you?) remains a good listen.

 Here's my litmus test, repeated for the 17th time: The compilers of the Box selected just two songs from SURFIN' USA while seeing fit to include four from 15 BIG ONES. Which album would you rather hear?

 Re Elvis: I think his biggest LP of 1963 was Vol 3 of the GOLDEN RECORDS series while his big soundtracks of the era were probably GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS! and FUN IN ACAPULCO. The studio LP for 1962 had been POT LUCK; there was no new studio LP in 1963. None of these albums had an impact approaching SURFIN' USA. And for American fans, "The Beatles" was something few if any had ever heard of. In short, SURFIN' USA put The Beach Boys on top!

[Louie7]

NOTE ~ For me, the word FILLER doesn't exist. If a track is good enuf for Brian, it's good enuf for me.

Of course I have my favorites - and I will elucidate accordingly from a guitar players viewpoint.

SPECIAL NOTE: Five insturmentals. Yeah baby! For all you nay sayers..... The Beach Boys WERE A SURF BAND...Don't ya get it ? Surf bands played intrumentals. It's NOT filler. If you don't get it, you probably weren't there at the begiinning. I'm guessing you don't have any Surfaris albums in your collections. 

FIRST AWARENESS ~ The local music store still wasn't stocking BB Lp's for some reason. Therefore this album didn't come into my awareness until I 'discovered' it while going thru a stack of phonograph records at my friends house down the street. They always seemed to be slightly ahead of the curve, musically (my first Bob Dylan exposure was over there too). Oddly, neither my friend nor his sisters seemed interested in Surfin' USA, so it was easy for me to convince them to let me borrow it. This was probably October or November 1963 ? I don't remember.

IMPRESSIONS ~ My first impression was something like...."where has this album been all my life ?" .... Like many people, the cover photo grabbed my imagination in a big way. *My Imagination, running wild*....*hehe*.

THE MUSIC ~ As a novice electric guitar player, I was already a huge fan of 'surf' music. Pipeline, Wipe Out and The Ventures. And I knew the BB's to play instrumentals too...Moon Dawg etc. So this album was even better! Miserlou! Surf Jam! Honky Tonk! wow...... Don't get the wrong impression; the vocals tracks knocked me out. Noble Surfer was sonic heaven in 1963, fer shure. But I remember finally getting a copy of Surfin' USA for my own, and taking it over to my other friends house. His parents redecorated and the really nice Magnavox stereo Hi-Fi console (tube gear) ended up in his room. After school, when his folks were working, we'd put that album on and CRANK it. What a sound! I remember we'd play Surf Jam really loud, just to hear all the whooping and hollaring and reverb drenched anarchy.

AFTER COMMENTS ~ I still love this album and just the sight of it, takes me back. It's so great to hear  Brians sterling falsetto on Farmers Daughter and Lana. Not a bad track on this album; altho Finders Keepers is a bit rough. Still, it's a uber-classic. The world is a better place for it.

[Paulos]

I like this album, a nice leap forward from Surfin' Safari though there is some filler, I give it a 7.

Surfin' USA: Brilliant song, so energetic and guaranteed to brighten my day. Also the Beach Boys song I'm most likely to hear in the summer! 8/10

Farmer's Daughter: I have a soft spot for this sweet little song, love Brians' falsetto on this one. 7/10

Misirlou: Good cover of the classic Dick Dale song. 6/10

Stoked: Good surf instrumental. 6'5/10

Lonely Sea: Great song and the first time we really get to hear Brians compositional genius at work, love the chord changes. 8.5/10

Shut Down: A hot rod classic and a very catchy nugget of pop. 7.5/10

Noble Surfer: Not the greatest song but not the worse either. 6/10

Honky Tonk: Another decent cover. 6/10

Lana: Nice enough song but lacks something special. 6/10

Surf Jam: Another instrumental! I like Carl's guitaring on this one. 6/10

Let's Go Trippin: I like this cover, really showed that the boys could actually play. 7/10

Finders Keepers: Interesting song with a nice construction. 6.5/10